Best Trusts For Black Mage

As the title asks, what are the best trusts to use with black mage.

I guess this is a 2 parter..

1: Exp/limits/capacity points

2: More important.. for doing boss fights solo

For boss i used to use:
-tank (august or amchuchu or both depending on nm)
-healer (apururu)
-rdm
-sc trust if needed (iroha and seltheus for light)

Cp:
-kupo
-moogle
-qultada if you use rings and engage.

Gessho and Tenzen 2 will make darkness

If you use Vidohunir while Iroha II has >1000 TP she will close Light. I use her in BCNMs.

For CP I think I went with Kupipi, Apururu, Koru-Moru, Kupofried, and August.

Just personal preference whenever I'm on a mage job, but I always like using Star Sibyl. The MAB boost is small, but every little bit helps.

If I may ask, why Koru-Moru?

Because he stays at range and doesn't run into mantis AoEs, unlike the more useful RDMs.

Sincere question: y do ppl seem to prefer other Rdms like Arciela(II) or King over Koru?
I see many advantages in Koru the others dont have. He casts Dia III and other debuffs, he Dispels, he helps with Cures (even if it has low priority), Converts, casts only Haste II/Flurry II or(!) Refresh II, he casts Phalanx II, he does NOT attack so he does not feed tp and does not WS so no SC interruption.

Im not aware of anything the other Rdms offer that would make them more useful, except for maybe minimal dmg with MBs from Arciela but that does not help with other things she lacks. For example I dont think she casts Dia III or Phalanx II, please correct me if Im wrong.

I find KoH is often a detriment. He'll end up nerfing your nuke damage by using Firaga on magic bursts. If you can get by with Koru you should use him.

KoH has access to na spells so in some situations, thats a nice bonus. Arciela II is absolutely horrible at 99, pre 99 she is probably great though. Normal Arciela isnt bad though because she will haste 2 and refresh 2 jobs that koru wont. However, i absolutely prefer koru over the other rdms in most situations.

Surprised Sylvie hasn't been mentioned. If I remember right, she'll do Indi-Refresh and then entrust either Focus if you need magic accuracy, or else either Acumen or Malaise (I forget which). Also, she does /WHM stuff.

Shantotto II's regular attacks are elemental and won't miss, so she can contribute to a SC regardless of enemy evasion. I think her biggest weakness is that she's very easily killed by aoe damage.

I'm BLM main and love Sylvie. The only downside to her is that you're stuck with the sub-par WHM trusts. Sylvie will help out with single-target cures, but with lack of Curagas, she's no Apururu or Yoran.

I've never been too fond of Shantotto II. I have non-mage friends who gush over her magic bursting, but since she only casts tier Is, her nukes kind of suck. "Wow, a 5k MB. I am so impressed. Really." Not to mention her WSing, while not nearly as bad as that *** August, can still throw an occasional wrench in your planned SC/MBing.

Iroha II belongs in your party at all times. A trust which exists to create SCs and MBs Flare II should be a no-brainer. She also has good synergy with Amchuchu. When Amchuchu reaches 3000 TP, she'll extend the length of Iroha's next SC with Dimidation. It'll go You/Alt/Iroha > Iroha (Fusion or Light) > Iroha with Light if she didn't make it before > Amchuchu (Double Light). You can ride that with all the Fires and Thunders you want.

When doing stuff on BLM, I have my alt on DNC. Amchuchu + BLM + DNC + Iroha + Koru + Sylvie/Yoran. Stuff just melts.

I guess it depends what you're fighting. When I'm soloing CP in Reisenjima she'll throw out two or three MBs for over 9K damage each per SC, so I tend to use her even if I'm on a mage job.

Haste2.
KoruMoru doesn't haste2 some jobs. Arciela1 uses Haste2 regardless, even if you have haste1 up (from, say, Apururu).
King of Hearts too, situationally, can haste you regardless of your job.
KoruMoru and, I think, ArcielaII do not.

ArcielaII has other pros though, she magic bursts and deals damage and has better MP management that Koru.
Koru often runs out of mp.
Altough that's not really an issue inside Escha/Reisen I guess, with the Vorseals.
ArcielaII also casts different debuffs from Koru, iir they have a couple in common and the others are different.

I recall them saying that King of Hearts' AI is programmed in a way that the leader (or maybe it was person with hate) is recognized by him as his master (Karababa), and that he'll buff them as much as he can. I still prefer Arciela over him though.

Also note that if you need Curagas, Nashmeira II and Prishe II will cast them as well. I'm personally a fan of Selh'teus for Rejuvenation too.

This is where we get into way-too-serious meta-analysis. Arciela's main drawback is that she doesn't cast Dia III, while KoH and Koru do, but she DOES cast Paralyze II, is IIRC the only trust that can, and that may alone be enough to bring her as your RDM is some cases.

BUT

For stuff that's serious enough for your choice of WHM to matter, if you're Sylvie, there's a pretty good case to make for using Mihli as your WHM, since she's the only non-UC WHM to use Afflatus: Solace and is thus in the best position to prevent instagibs. Since Mihli casts Paralyze but not Slow, she pairs really well with Koru (Dia III and Slow II) and that alone is, in my experience, enough to keep Koru on the radar for Sylvie-users.

TL;DR: ***is, as always, situational.

more BLMs! do a 4x blm, 1x tank, 1x healer. and spam T1s you can go forever!

Arciela also has higher magic acc than Koru (she can dispel Vedrfolnir when Koru won't even try) and she has her AOE healing WS which can be nice in certain circumstances.

KoH I tend to use when I really want dia III on since his dia priority is a lot higher than Koru. He's also the only rdm that cast Na's, he's really fast about them too.

Hey.. currently my gear sucks and I dont have much JP..

So 5k bursts? I am doing 6k thunder 5 bursts... so.. uh.. thats actually really really good.. at least to me it islol!!

If you need occasional random curagas they're nice, but if you need a RELIANT healer then Apururu is the only reliable trust healer with -ga heals.

Selh'teus is awesome for WKRs and Domain Invasion.
If you didn't know guys, his Rejuvenation applies to EVERYONE in range, even outside of your party.
If everybody stacked Selh'teuses some of those fights would be easier!

Arciela1 has nice defensive/offensive buffs but they don't stay up a lot sadly.

I can confirm Arciela2 has more macc than KoruMoru and she also has enhancing duration+
Not really useful but still lol, wanted to let it be known :p



Mihli is my WHM of choice when I can't use Unity healer, because she doesn't cast haste and she has Afflatus Solace AND prot/shell.
But she sucks at MP managing, she's slow with -na and has the bad habit of interrupting SCs or using her lame Scouring Bubbles annoying AoE WS.

Been using Sylvie and am loving her. But looking for a reliable healer has become a mission of its own. Been using Cherukiki but the lack of aoe heals can be a killer. Is Mihli really the next best healer when Apururu is not available?

Karaha is good when you want a little more damage or barspells, but yeah, I'd say mihli.

Selh'teus and Arciela both do an okay job of supplementing AoE heals with their respective weaponskills if you can't get anything else.

I usually avoid Cherukiki unless I specifically need a WHM trust that won't -na.